# Non-Americans, is the American accent "cool"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 5, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688 "2003-04-05T16:27:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/1 "2003-04-05T16:27:43Z")
Of course, this is also for any Americans who are from another country and don’t have our accent. In your opinion, is the American accent cool? I always found Australian, Irish, and Brittish accents cool and was wondering what everyone else thought of ours. I am most aware that there are different accents in America and within other countries, so feel free to expound on different accents if you like. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/2 "2003-04-05T16:32:49Z")
Considering that most English I’ve heard has been from media and so on, I’m predisposed to think of the American accent as the ‘normal’ accent, so it’s hard to say much about it’s specific coolness. ---
**Author:** ![Honeydew\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Honeydew\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honeydew_1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/3 "2003-04-05T16:38:01Z")
I love the accent - I’m most used to the MA accent as my bf is from there and we talk daily. I am told I’m even getting a hint of it myself when I speak :o. I really do like the American accent in general though - its very sexy. I am Irish and totally do not see the attraction of that (though I have been told many times that I have a very sexy voice - _ **I** _ don’t believe it for a second!). I am the worst example of an Irish person there is going I’m afraid though. So, in answer to your question, yes the American accent is cool and goddamn sexy 🙂 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/4 "2003-04-05T16:46:17Z")
You sound like rubes. Just kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/5 "2003-04-05T16:47:16Z")
Really rhino? I’m from MA and I think our accent is jarring and nasally. But I love a brogue. Grass is always greener I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Honeydew\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Honeydew\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honeydew_1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/6 "2003-04-05T16:51:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Witch \* > \*\*Really rhino? I’m from MA and I think our accent is jarring and nasally. But I love a brogue. Grass is always greener I guess. \*\* Yep really… though he has lived in several states so maybe his accent has been diluted somewhat over the years. I do have another friend from Southern MA and his accent is somewhat stronger, but again, I still find it sexy (though I don’t find him sexy at all 😛 ). I think its really nice - be proud of it :D. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/7 "2003-04-05T17:27:24Z")
I don’t find the American accent cool as such, but my wife’s American and when she calls me “honey” my heart melts. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/8 "2003-04-05T17:39:08Z")
I always think that 'mercians accent is more ‘flowable’ you can say long words without speaking like an idiot. But I love my accent, hate my voice. ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/9 "2003-04-05T17:47:20Z")
I’m from MA too and I have more of a New Bedford accent than a Boston accent. So instead of the kennedy Pahk the kah thing it is a bit more nasal and I usually feel I sound like a moron. My friend spent some time in Maryland and Kentucky and she came home with a funky accent. I loved listening to her kids until they assimilated. (I still love her kids… just that they don’t talk cute anymore) I had some friends in elementary school who moved to italy. I could listen to that accent all day! I’ve never heard a brogue that wasn’t in a movie so I don’t know how “real” they sound… but they always sounded cool by me. What cracks me up the most about British english is more the different terms for some things than the sound of the accent… Hoovering for example. What kills me too is being from the northeast I talk FAST! And when I talk to people in southern states (we have some friends in TX in particular that I think of for this) they talk so SLOW. I’m always thinking “come on spit it out already!” ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/10 "2003-04-05T18:04:23Z")
Friends in the speech therapy world tell me that English, like German, has qualities that make it sound loud and harsh to non-native speakers -and I know that Brits love to shout about Americans being loud. I’m also told that dialogue coaches have a problem with non-native speakers wanting to or drifting toward a southern accent instead of speech therapist approved accent-free diction. Usually, though, the person being coached is from a group (Australian, for instance) with many of the same ethnic roots as the American South and that may have something to do with it. FWIW, in my personal experience, in Germany and the urban parts of the British Isles, the general view is that Southern and Southwestern voices are more pleasing. These people can’t typically identify the regional accent. I’ve just noticed that this set of foreigners tend to respond well those voices and say flattering things like, “not so loud as most Americans” and “intelligent” and so on. Interestingly, to me anyway, it seems like I’m more likely to hear American-movie quotes when I’m not in this country. “Hasta la vista, baby” is truly part of the international language. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/11 "2003-04-05T18:16:52Z")
Personally I don’t find the American accent ‘cool’. I don’t have the impression my fellow countrymen think any different. We are subjected to so much television and movies that we find the American accent the ‘basic’ way of pronouncing English, which doesn’t make it stand out in any particular way. British (The Queen’s) English and Southern accent _are_ noticed. That said, the American idiom _is_ considered to be cool. Like **j.c.** said, people like to quote movie witticisms, even the ones that have become platitudes. There is a certain conciseness to American English that makes it attractive, a bit like the Roman sayings. One example I remember from Colin Powell during the (first?) Gulf war, about the no-fly zone: ‘You fly, you die’. Concise, clear and convincing. It’s on a par with veni, vidi, vici. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/12 "2003-04-05T18:24:09Z")
I asked a Scandanavian once how English sounded to him. He said “snobbish.” (Of course, he must have been thinking of the Brits.) 😉 I did see a program on Ireland once that had sub-titles when the youngsters spoke. It made me smile. ---
**Author:** ![Witch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Witch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Witch)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/13 "2003-04-05T18:35:27Z")
Yea, I’ve got the pahk the cah thing goin’ on. I live just south of Boston. When I go south of the Mason-Dixon line, people just stare at me blankly. Apparently my accent is …pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![big\_alex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e56c9b/32.png) [@big\_alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_alex)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/14 "2003-04-05T19:30:28Z")
I don’t really think anything of the American accent, it’s just there, like my own and the British on television. ( if that makes any sense!) But I would prefer the New York accent to Southern. I have just discovered that I find South African accents very pleasing though! ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/15 "2003-04-05T19:36:35Z")
I’d certainly never thought it was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/16 "2003-04-05T20:36:39Z")
Interesting. I always considered the Queen’s accent to be the proper accent for English, with Charles or Phlip having the proper male accent for the language. ---
**Author:** ![Honeydew\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@Honeydew\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honeydew_1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/17 "2003-04-05T20:56:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tanookie \* > **I’ve never heard a brogue that wasn’t in a movie so I don’t know how “real” they sound… but they always sounded cool by me.** Did you ever hear Gabriel Byrne? He’s Irish and has pretty much kept this accent - and its a regular Irish accent not a “you want my lucky charms” put on accent (like Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt in whatever movies they were). > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Zoe_ > **I did see a program on Ireland once that had sub-titles when the youngsters spoke. It made me smile.** Mine is from Dublin but very neutral - there are certainly some Irish accents that I’d need sub-titles for and I live here !! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![green\_dragon\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/13edae/32.png) [@green\_dragon\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_dragon_1)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/18 "2003-04-05T20:56:38Z")
I think it’s the element of being ‘different’ or foreign that makes it sexy. the amount of american girls who go all gooey when I tell them I have an English accent is just amazing…they say it’s ‘sophisticated’ or even ‘exotic’!! I’m moving to America. ---
**Author:** ![Theobroma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@Theobroma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theobroma)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/19 "2003-04-05T21:21:13Z")
> [@](#): > > What kills me too is being from the northeast I talk FAST! And when I talk to people in southern states (we have some friends in TX in particular that I think of for this) they talk so SLOW. I’m always thinking “come on spit it out already!” I hear ya, **Tanookie** baby. I moved from Philadelphia to Phoenix at age 8. The slower speech here in the South drove us so crazy, my sister and I have a gesture for it: we mime cranking something up with one hand. Meaning: speed it up and spit it out already! Get on with it!! Worst offenders–rural Soth’n’uhs. Tip for y’all: the magazine is not called “Taaaaaaahhhhhhhhmm”. My husband is from the Netherlands, but went to college in Ohio. His accent baffles everybody. (Mainly Ohio River Valley, but with funny vowels when he’s very tired or has been talking to family) I’m visiting South Jersey in a few weeks, and I’ll have my accent back for a couple of days when I get back. Never thought of it as sexy in the least… And, finally, a tip: if you want to hear what American-accented English sounds like to non-English speakers (rhythm and tone without context or meaning), try listening to a very technical lecture on a topic about which you know nothing, especially if you’re half-asleep. Very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688/20 "2003-04-05T21:33:23Z")
With two American half-brothers, one of which served in the U.S. Navy and so was not really here in NZ long to have anything _other_ than a U.S. accent – I’ve heard the accent off and on for most of the first 3/4 of my life. Is it cool? Yeah, I s’pose it is. Around here, it’s an exotic accent, something different. Of all the voices from your 50 states, I’d have to say those from Oregon and the Carolinas are heads and shoulders above the rest for my personal likes. Then again, I like listening to Canadians and Australians, along with those from the northern part of my ancestors’ homeland, Britain. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-is-the-american-accent-cool/166688.md?page=2)